2022 Frugal Living Challenge

Thrifty_Taylor

Count me in again please. I lurked more than posted in 2021, but tried to be as frugal as I could. The highs of 2021 was paying off our mortgage in June & visiting family south for the first time in 8 years, the lows was ill health - hubby diagnosed with renal failure, I had a sort of lockjaw after having wisdom teeth removed & DS2 now been diagnosed with a hiatus hernia!
Our house is very small for the 5 of us, so been planning to extend for many, many years! This year I'm wanting to declutter as much as possible, any money made from this will go towards the extension. We grew lots of veg last year, but the weather made a lot of it bolt, so hoping things will be better this time round.
Looking forward to sharing our frugal lives together again this year & picking up hints & tips along the way 😃

Watty1

Loving the read.  I'm in a muddle financially so will be reading along and learning from you all as I go.  My why? I want to reduce my work hours. (There is a longer story but that will do).

elbree

Jellytotts said:

elbree said:

Congratulations @cuddlymarm! That's very exciting news! I'd like to join again. My monthly bills come to £1400 for myself and 8yo. The main chunk of that is £1000 rent, I'd love to buy but even with a deposit (I've now saved a small one) no lender will give me a mortgage big enough to buy in my town by the sea. So I'm stuck renting basically.

I'm keeping up with the saving though and plan to save at least £300 a month this year. Long term I'm considering buying a rental with my brother in our (much cheaper) home town. This might provide some long term security for myself and 8yo.  I've joined the grocery challenge to see if I can save there in January and plan to have a very quiet month to give the savings a boost before spring/summer activities come along. 

Have you looked at shared ownership schemes in your area? Both our daughters started this way. The eldest found a 1 bed flat on the scheme that was a 33% shared ownership, so popped in her deposit and got a mortgage on the other part of the 33% and then paid rent on the other 77%. It's a lot more secure than renting and obviously you're paying into your mortgage so your profits go up as the flat value does.  She sold hers after 2 years to buy a house with her partner and she got a great return on it.

Youngest daughter has a 25% share of a 2 bedroom flat, shes hoping to step up and buy another 10% share next year.  It was the only way either of them could afford to buy here in Kent as prices are daftly high.  

Thanks so much for the suggestion @Jellytotts but yes, I've looked at and sadly decided it's not for me. Reason 1 - When the mortgage people took into account the rent I'd have to pay as well, my mortgage offer was too small to buy a share in the flats round here. Reason 2 - once rent, mortgage and service charge taken together is was a lot more than the £1000 I pay now. In fact, for round here £1000 for two bedrooms is a bargain, which I know is crazy. 

Unfortunately my town basically has London prices but as I'm a teacher my income doesn't match. My daughter and I are both settled in local schools so don't want to move away. It's not perfectly secure but I've been in the flat for 10 years and hope the landlord wants to keep it long term. In the meantime I'm building a financial buffer in case I should get evicted and need to find somewhere else. 🤞It doesn't happen though. 

Dizzy_Imp

Hi frugal peeps!  Can I join in for 2022 please? I see some familiar names, so I'm hoping I'll fit in.

I've not set a budget, as, to be totally honest, I've lost track of all my finances since Covid, but I do know that ALL unnecessary spending is to be eliminated.  I started a debt free wannabe diary at the beginning of December and hope to get some ideas and encouragement in a group of like-minded people.  I need to stay motivated and not become distracted by sparkly and fluffy things that I just DO NOT NEED!

TTFN x

Frugaldom

WELCOME TO ALL OUR NEWCOMERS 

I try to keep things as up-beat as possible so tend to focus on all the positives found in everyday life, even during the negatives, so congratulations to all who are finding fun in the prospect of becoming frugal, to those expecting new arrivals in their families and to those who have succeeded in achieving goals like paying off a debt, debts or mortgage. That is an awesome stage and takes you one step closer to financial freedom. Live life on a shoestring if it means doing more of what you like and less of what you don't. As said many tmes in the past, I have cut so many corners that my square became a circle. 

Hope you all found someting to celebrate over the past few days and here's to the new year ahead. This challenge officially starts on 1st January, although I understand many of you start at payday in December. Whichever way you record it, take care of every penny so you can see the pounds mounting up, be it spends or saves. Always think twice (at least) to determine if something is a need or a want before spending and always, if shopping online, find the best deals and check through your chosen cashback site. I use TCB and will be happy to give anyone my friend recommendation link - just ask.

Cash neutrality is what I'm aiming for, or a more self-sustainable lifestyle. I tend to try to go cash free so everthing is recorded and not a penny gets forgotten but if there does happen to be cash, it gets set aside for emergencies or unexpected opportunities. I prefer to use a cashback credit card but see the likes of Amazon about to begin refusing Visa credit so that's my forst port of call - looking for a best deal alternative to a debit card.

GOOD LUCK IN 2022, FRUGALERS!

Frugaldom

Late addition after browsing the Amaz0n situation - a £50 top-up nets you a free £6 bonus, which is like 12% interest on your initial 'investment'. As I use the site quite often, I opted for that. The £6 bonus dropped into the account instantly so i'll use vouchers rather than have to apply for a new CC. Theor vouchers last something like 10 years but I'll have project-related purchases to make soon so the £6 extra will cover the cost of something.

patentgirl

@jellytots thanks for property advice my DD3 will be 30 next year desperately wants to get on property ladder as saved good deposit but also in Kent area and properties so expensive and rarely on sale for long will suggest to her.

Thanks @Frugaldom I was wondering what to do about Amazon as have visa credit too and although want to cut out any unnecessary spends will need to order some bits throughout year.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Deleted_User said:

We live very well on this. The children have all they need, we are warm and eat good food. How we live just isn't seen as the "norm" by a lot of people (questions such as "how do you cope without a car?", "why do you bother chopping pallets for the fire when you can just turn the heating on?", "why don't the children have the latestX/Y/Z?" are examples of questions I have to field. 

Find your "why?" - be it clearing debts, reducing hours at work, building your savings, climate reasons - and take an HONEST look at what you spend. It is frightening at first, and takes some real soul searching, but the rewards are incredible. 

I set myself mini challenges (I haven't spent anything since 8th December other than £43 on a pre booked Asda delivery on the 20th), and will be aiming to continue this through to 8th January. In January, I have an £80 budget for food which has to include school dinners at £2 per day. It is fun, and if you view it as a game it won't be a chore.

Best of luck to you all xx

I couldnt agree more with this. We are very careful with our money and feel like we constantly have to justify it to other people. We have 2 young sons both with special needs and we don't know what the future will hold so we are being frugal now rather then waiting until we don't have a choice. I gave up my job in the summer this year. Living the way we do meant that we didn't have to worry about that from a financial point of view ( i only did 10 hours a week). I have given up trying to explain myself to people. They will never understand the worries we have so there's no point trying. My husband and I know why we live the way we do and are both on board so thats all that matters.
Today I am sorting all the leftover turkey. We weren't supposed to be having turkey this year but OH popped to the shop christmas eve and came back with 2 turkey crowns at over 3kg each. £23 down to £5. One went straight into the freezer and the other one was cooked christmas day. I'm hoping january will be a good month for food spends as we have so much to eat.

islandhoppa

I’d like to join after binge reading last years thread… haven’t set my budget yet and it’s difficult as I don’t know what my earnings will be. After getting into a very fortunate situation a few years ago in a well paid, secure but stressful job I paid off all debts (except small mortgage) and built a savings buffer. Then realised I was wishing my life away, every day thinking ‘this many days to work till weekend, annual leave’ etc. So this year I gave it all up and bought a small business. Absolutely love every minute of it, now my only stress is whether I will earn enough….
going to look at my budget and see what else I can strip out but confess I have a few spendy habits from my old life and need to balance the need to stay in the black whilst still enjoying life

Frugalfaffing

Hi ,please can I join you all. I read last years thread daily but have only just sorted out signing up to MSE. 
My husband retires on 31st Dec & when his wage swops to pension our overall income roughly halves. By reading this thread each day I kept motivated and were about the pay the mortgage off. But we still have 2 teenagers & want to save for their future, uni etc. 2022 has to be extra frugal for us. I've done our monthly budgets & want to try do a no spend January. We have well stocked pantry & freezer so fingers crossed. You are all a fab bunch & looking forward to being part of the group in 2022.